Wednesday, July 11, 2007

POPTPOURRI

JOHN BROWN

John Brown, Democratic At-Large candidate for Troy City Council, announced yesterday that Joe Riley will serve as his Campaign Chairman.

“I have known John Brown his entire life. He represents all of the best qualities of the people of Troy – he is a hard working, honest, family man,” said Joe Riley, the newly announced Campaign Chairman. “ John Brown is an independent voice that will represent the people with integrity. I look forward to helping him by raising money and securing votes.”

Brown stated, “ Troy has experienced difficult economic times in both city government and its business community. I have spoken and listened to the people who live and work in our historic city and they have concerns. They are concerned about public safety. It was recently reported that crime is on the rise in our community. They are concerned that Troy will loose the hometown qualities that they love so much. I want you to know that I share those concerns. Working together we can develop programs and policies that insure our streets are safe and our economy is vibrant and productive.”

Troy City Councilman Clem Campana also said that he was excited to have John on the ticket and looked forward to campaigning with him. " Troy ’s citizens need representatives in government with John Brown’s work ethic, intelligence and energy. I look forward to campaigning with him this fall.", Campana stated.

“Joe Riley and Clem Campana are individuals whose support means a great deal. They are caring and committed Trojans,” said Brown. “They have earned people’s respect through their good works and deeds. Support from people like Joe and Clem will help make the difference this election.”

As Deputy Director of the New York State Legislative Bill Drafting Commission, John has extensive experience in the legislative process and a deep understanding of government. Brown is a graduate of Siena College in Loudonville and LaSalle Institute in Troy.

The Troy Democrats should be excited about Brown and his campaign. Because he's a shoe-in? No. Because he's young, smart and aggressive. Brown held a fundraiser before he had even secured the At-Large nomination. That may have rankled some but the Democrats need young, aggressive candidates for '07 and the future. In Brown, they have one.

TROY VICTIMIZED BY METAPHOR

The big story, of course, is the power outage experienced in Troy yesterday. National Grid pulled-the-plug on Troy, shutting down businesses and even forcing the County building to close down early. The Rensselaer County Legislature has called on National Grid for answers.

"When the power went off-line," said one County employee, "we lost a lot of valuable information. I had almost finished updating the master list of Republican contributors. A co-worker was in the middle of drafting a fundraising letter and another was working on a campaign mailer. Now that's all lost."

A National Grid spokesman explained that Troy's health care proxy had ordered the withdrawal of all artificial life support.